The Wonder of Box Wines

Friday, 30 November 2007

Master of Wine Martin Moran is with us today to give s the low-down on box wines and the best ones to go for this Christmas.

Advantages. bag-in-a-box packaging prevents oxidation of the wine during dispensing.. Box wine is not subject to cork taint or spoilage due to slow consumption after opening. A bag of wine, once removed from the box, will float on water. This allows quick cooling of a white wine by immersion in an ice bath.. box wines eliminate the need to recycle glass and cut down on shipping costs. very convenient to throw in backpack and bring to the beach or on a day out - no corkscrew needed!. They can last up to six weeks after opening.. efficient for storage and transport of rectangular boxes, and elimination of bottle breakage. Save money. There is usually a discount on the equivalent bottle price

The Down side. Limited range available. Shelf life varies from about 6 - 9 months, maybe 12 tops as the packaging is more permeable to oxygen than glass, so no fine wines packaged this way.

General backgroundSales account for only about 2% of Irish wine sales at Tesco report that their sales are up 40% this year.

This format is small here but huge in Scandinavia (over 50%) and Australia where they are called 'casks' or known as goon

Martin will then talk about 4 different box wines which will be from four big shopping outlets. M+S, Dunnes Stores, Tesco's and Aldi.